Child abuse is a shocking reality

“Crimes against children are grossly under-reported and the real figure is believed to be much higher,” says Johan Bosch, operations manager of Child Welfare SA White River.

“Bosch further stated research conducted by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) indicated that sexual offices make up about half of the reported figure and that approximately 30 per cent of these victims are under the age of 10.

His comments were confirmed by Aida Girma, Unicef representative in South Africa, who said that South Africa’s levels of violence against children are among the highest in the world. “Tens of thousands of children are victims of abuse, neglect and exploitation every year and offenders often go unpunished,” said Girma.

Statistics from the South African Police Service show there were more than 54 000 reported crimes against children from March 31, 2011 to April 1, 2012.

‘The Children’s Act defines child abuse as any form of harm or ill-treatment deliberately inflicted on a child,” continued Bosch. “These include assaulting a child, sexually abusing a child, bullying by another child, child-labour exploitation and exposing a child to behaviour which may harm the child emotionally or psychologically.”

Bosch also referred to child-abuse facts identified by Childline. These were that one in four children in South Africa will be abused in their childhood. There is a significant increase in young people sexually abusing children, 99 per cent of the sexual abuse is done by men and 80 per cent of offenders are well known to, and trusted by, the child.

“What people may not realise is that the Children’s Act makes the reporting of child abuse to the South African Police Service or a designated child protection organisation mandatory,” Bosch concludes.

Child abuse can be reported by contacting the following organisations:

SAPS on 10111 or Child Welfare SA White River on 013-750-1001or Childline on 0800-55-555.